United States

Democrats lose in key wind states

UNITED STATES: Democrats have been pushed out in some of the leading states for wind power.

Former Indiana governor was the target of a 'pro-China' ad campaign by a pro-Republican group

In the mid-term elections on November 2, Republicans gained the governorship in a number of high wind-capacity states: Iowa (2nd by wind capacity), Oklahoma (12th), Wyoming (13th), Kansas (14th), Pennsylvania (15th), New Mexico (16th) and Wisconsin (18th).

On a national level, Democrats will hold on to their Senate majority – but it will be diminished to no more than 54. Going into the elections, Democrats held 57 seats, with left-leaning independents boosting their caucus to 59.

The result threatens to undermine efforts to pass a national renewable electricity standard (RES), which Senate majority leader Harry Reid says has suffered from a lack of Republican support.

One of the few Senate Republicans to publicly support a RES in the past year was Sam Brownback of Kansas. He has now been elected the governor of that state, and will be replaced in Congress by fellow Republican Jerry Moran.

Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives, ceding at least 60 seats to Republicans.

Other wind power-related results:

Deval Patrick remains as the governor of Massachusetts, where the Cape Wind offshore project was a hot issue in the campaign.

Baron Hill of Indiana lost his House seat but Martin Heinrich of New Mexico retained his. Republican ads had attacked the pair for approving President Barack Obama’s stimulus package, alleging that the measure created renewable energy jobs in China but failed to stimulate the US economy.

The Carnahan Democratic dynasty scored a win and a loss in Missouri. Robin Carnahan lost to Roy Blount in the Senate race, while brother Russ Carnahan retains his House seat. Both had been attacked by opponents during the campaign over their brother's ownership of a wind farm which received federal subsidies.

California’s Proposition 23 was defeated. The measure would have frozen the state’s cap on greenhouse gas emissions until unemployment fell to 5.5% or under for four consecutive quarters.

Top-ranked wind states and their gubernatorial elections

Capacity rank

State

MW installed as of Oct 2010

Gain/hold

Incumbent (party)

Govenor-elect (party)

1

Texas

9712

Rick Perry (R)

Rick Perry (R)

Key:

2

Iowa

3669

Chet Culver (D)

Terry Branstad (R)

Republican gain

3

California

2814

Arnold Schwarzenegger (R)

Jerry Brown (D)

Republican hold

4

Oregon

2095

Ted Kulongoski (D)

TBD

Democrat gain

5

Washington

2036

Christine Gregoire (D)

n/a

Democrat hold

6

Illinois

1847

Pat Quinn (D)

TBD

Independent gain

7

Minnesota

1813

Tim Pawlenty (R)

TBD

Undecided

8

New York

1274

David Paterson (D)

Andrew Cuomo (D)

No election

9

Colorado

1248

Bill Ritter (D)

John Hickenlooper (D)

10

North Dakota

1222

John Hoeven (R)

n/a

Notes:

11

Indiana

1130

Mitch Daniels (R)

n/a

* Elected to Senate in the mid-terms, leaving governorship. Special election may be held.

12

Oklahoma

1130

Brad Henry (D)

Mary Fallin (R)

13

Wyoming

1101

David Freudenthal (D)

Matt Mead (R)

14

Kansas

1026

Mark Parkinson (D)

Sam Brownback (R)

15

Pennsylvania

748

Ed Rendell (D)

Tom Corbett (R)

16

New Mexico

597

Bill Richardson (D)

Susana Martinez (R)

17

Missouri

457

Jay Nixon (D)

n/a

18

Wisconsin

449

Jim Doyle (D)

Scott Walker (R)

19

West Virginia

414

Joe Manchin (D)*

n/a

20

South Dakota

412

Mike Rounds (R)

Dennis Daugaard (R)

21

Montana

386

Brian Schweitzer (D)

n/a

22

Utah

223

Gary Herbert (R)

Gary Herbert (R)

23

Maine

200

John Baldacci (D)

Paul LePage (R)

24

Idaho

163

C.L. "Butch" Otter (R)

C.L. "Butch" Otter (R)

25

Nebraska

153

Dave Heineman (R)

Dave Heineman (R)

26

Michigan

143

Jennifer Granholm (D)

Rick Snyder (R)

27

Arizona

63

Jan Brewer (R)

Jan Brewer (R)

28

Hawaii

63

Linda Lingle (D)

Neil Abercrombie (D)

29

Tennesse

29

Phil Bredesen (D)

Bill Haslam (R)

30

New Hampshire

25

John Lynch (D)

John Lynch (D)

31

Massachusetts

17

Deval Patrick (D)

Deval Patrick (D)

32

Ohio

9

Ted Strickland (D)

John Kasich (R)

33

Alaska

8

Sean Parnell (R)

Sean Parnell (R)

34

New Jersey

8

Chris Christie (R)

n/a

35

Vermont

6

Jim Douglas (R)

TBD

36

Delaware

2

Jack Markell (D)

n/a

37

Rhode Island

1

Donald Carcieri (R)

Lincoln Chafee (I)

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